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Monday, August 13, 2007
Blogwatch: ‘Gays for Giuliani’ is a big hug for someone trying to keep his distance
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A sector of America’s gay rights community is showing its fun, Machiavellian side.
Last week, a group out of New York, “Gays for Giuliani,” put up a 30-second video spot up on some major Internet sites, soliciting funds to have it broadcast on TV in South Carolina, home to some brutal GOP competition for president.
Atypicaljoe.com is making sure it gets Georgia exposure as well.
The video, which originated on the Huffington Post, is a series of a tongue-in-cheek endorsements by characters that appear designed to inflame Christian fundamentalists. All sorts of puns intended.
“I am so grateful for Rudy for the domestic partner plan that he has implemented in this city, because I have had no less — no less — than five domestic partners,” says one character with tinted glasses, swathed in what appears to be a tablecloth.
The thinking, from what we can tell, goes like this:
Rudy Giuliani has angered some in the gay community for backing away from some of his pre-presidential commitments.
But withdrawing support from the candidate isn’t much of an option. Losing even a healthy sliver of gay and lesbian admirers can’t compare with the advantages of securing the Republican base. A loud break-up, in fact, might help Giuliani with conservative Christians.
So instead, the embrace. The jilted group makes sure that those essential to a Republican victory in the South know just how much Giuliani means to gay voters.
On why a Rove resignation isn’t what it seems
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Keep in mind that Rusty Paul, the former state GOP chairman and current Sandy Springs councilman, is on board with the presidential candidate of Rudy Giuliani.
Even so, he’s got a good line:
Paul says that we may be on the verge of a convergence. Fred Thompson has delayed his entry into the contest for the White House so long, and states are so hot to move their primaries forward, that we could have an Iowa caucus and a Thompson announcement on the same day.
Okay. Maybe it was funnier when he said it.
On the topic of Karl Rove leaving President Bush’s side, Paul said no one should get too excited about the move. This doesn’t mean that Rove won’t remain one of the president’s top sounding boards.
“He can reach him by phone in Texas as easily as he can pick up the phone and call him four doors down,” Paul said.
Paul sees Roves’ departure from the White House as an expansion of his potential role in the 2008 presidential contest, rather than as a diminution of his role in the Bush administration.
“The missed story is what Rove has done to the presidential contest before he left,” Paul said. “McCain, Romney, Giuliani — Rove has placed key people in each of the major campaigns. Now he’ll be able to go out there and maneuver, control, manipulate — things that have an impact in each of the campaigns.”
Paul says he’s got no beef with Rove. “From the point of view of political acumen, he’s one of the best out there,” Paul said. But does worry that Rove has succumbed to a gunslinger’s credo of prefering the large fees a campaign can offer, at the cost of ideology.
When court officials are at the defendant’s table, something’s wrong
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Investigations into the goings on near the Florida border are heating up.
We told you in July about the scrutiny that one of rural Clinch County’s most powerful politicians, Superior Court Judge Brooks E. Blitch III, was getting.
The local county commission claimed Blitch had usurped its control of the county budget by holding back thousands of dollars in court fines and fees and dictating how those funds are spent.
Blitch, you’ll recall, is the husband of former Democratic state senator Peg Blitch of Homerville.
At the close of last weekend, one subject of the investigation, Clinch County Clerk of Court Danny Lecesse, pleaded guilty to mail fraud.
Also Friday, Berrien County Sheriff Jerry Brogdon resigned after reaching a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, for giving a .22-caliber pistol back to a felon, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.. The sheriff of neighboring Lowndes County temporarily has taken over law enforcement duties — a fairly rare circumstance we’re told.
Given the stuff that’s happened on the north end of Georgia, in Towns County, we may be in the middle of yet another cycle of misbehaving sheriffs. And judicial officials, too.
Isakson on ‘10 race for governor: Been there, done that?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It wasn’t exactly a no, but a weekend piece by Walter Jones of Morris News Service had an interesting line from U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson.
Asked if he were planning to run for governor in ‘10, the first-term senator said this:
“I did that once. I am very happy in the United States Senate.”
Chambliss: Why I voted against the S-CHIP legislation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Over the weekend, the Gainesville Times had a Q&A with U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss discussing his re-election, immigration reform and other topics.
Democrats have tried to generate some heat over Chambliss’ vote against an expansion of a federal-state program to offer health insurance to the children of the working poor.
Here’s Chambliss’ explanation:
The Times: Last week you and Sen. Isakson voted against the SCHIP legislation which funds Georgia’s PeachCare program. What was the reason behind your vote?
Chambliss: Johnny (Isakson) and I wound up voting against it because of three reasons. One, they spent way too much money. They’re going from capping the program at 250 percent of the poverty level to 300 percent and allowing waivers for up to 400 percent.
Instead of insuring a family of four with an income of $30,000 to $35,000, like Georgia does, New York has an application for a family of four with an income of $80,000. I don’t think Georgia taxpayers ought to be subsidizing a family in New York making $80,000 a year.
At the same time, it’s a very sensitive issue because the PeachCare program works. What Johnny and I supported was an amendment that would increase spending by $10 billion over the current $25 billion level. It would expand PeachCare to the point that every uninsured child in Georgia would have coverage and we could do it without raising taxes.
The second reason we voted against it was they wanted to raise taxes, albeit on cigarettes and cigars. But raising taxes is raising taxes. If the increase in cigarette taxes achieves its desired result, you’re going to see revenues start coming down and we know who’s going to pay that tax if the program is going to continue. The American taxpayer is going to pay it.
The third reason we voted against it was that under the current program that has been in effect for 10 years, 14 states have asked for and gotten waivers to insure adults. Most of the adults are the parents of uninsured children. But some states, like New Jersey and Indiana, have covered uninsured adults. This is a children’s program designed to cover children. It’s not a welfare program.
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